


all the time (you're on my mind)

by magique



Series: abandoned bbys [1]
Category: Inception (2010), White Collar
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Crossover, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-26
Updated: 2013-02-26
Packaged: 2017-12-03 17:03:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/700621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magique/pseuds/magique
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The way it works is like this: Dom Cobb is the only man who’s ever caught Eames, but Arthur’s the only man he’ll talk to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	all the time (you're on my mind)

**Author's Note:**

> i am bored & procrastinating because i could really be showering or studying, so: numero uno of a pile of fic snippets from larger story ideas i adore but may never finish!

The way it works is like this: Dom Cobb is the only man who’s ever caught Eames, but Arthur’s the only man he’ll talk to. Arthur’s never understood it since he only gave a shit about catching Eames because the chase was driving Cobb fucking nuts and Mal made Arthur swear to keep him in line. But at some point Eames developed this weird, teasing _crush_ and when they finally caught him he just smirked and said he wouldn’t say a word unless it was to Arthur.

So when Eames escapes prison (four months left on a four year sentence, what the fuck was _wrong_ with him) and Cobb tracks him down to the apartment that was Kate’s last known whereabouts, it’s Arthur that goes in first, alone. 

“You armed?” Arthur asks, and Eames scoffs quietly and twists a wine bottle in his hands.

“You know I’d never hurt you,” he says.

Arthur doesn’t know this, not really, so he says, “Eames, are you armed?”

Eames shakes his head and laughs, bitterly. “I just missed her, Arthur. The landlord said she left a week ago.”

And Arthur’s been wondering about Kate since the beginning, because Eames has always had Kate and Eames has always protected her as fiercely as a bear would its cubs, but Arthur thinks that maybe right now he could ask and Eames would answer, so he asks, “Who is she really? Who’s Kate?”

A real smile flickers across Eames’ face. “Nice try, darling,” he says. He puts the bottle aside and looks up at Arthur for the first time, his brows rising at the gun still pointed unwaveringly at his shoulder. “I’m unarmed.”

Arthur relaxes minutely. “You’ll get another four years for this, you know.” 

He doesn’t like to admit it, but Eames has always charmed him, just a little, and fascinated him, quite a lot. Enough to try to study him at least, to try to understand him, and Arthur has thought he was getting close more than once, but Eames is as slippery in that respect as he is in every other and, often, the anomalies Arthur finds centre on Kate. 

Just over three and a half years ago, Eames had shown every sign of being willing to quietly do the time for what little they could convict him of, but one conversation with Kate was enough to change that completely. The few words a lip reader was able to make out from footage of that conversation were enough for Eames to risk everything. All Kate needed to say was, “I think I’m in trouble,” and Arthur still doesn’t know why.

“I don’t mind,” Eames says, amiable, and smiles again, because he knows Arthur sees right through it. “That’s a lovely suit,” he adds; “Have you been promoted?”

**Author's Note:**

> i have a lot of unexpected kate-feels that i accidentally spilled all over my poor bb Dice. in summary though, i feel the mystery of kate is central to (at least) the first half of white collar's first season, and when i decided i wanted a inception/wc fic, i decided that neal!eames needed a kate. but not neal's kate, just a kate of his own ok, with his own kate-related mystery.
> 
> i'm whatevermortal on [tumblr](http://whatevermortal.tumblr.com/) & also [dreamwidth](http://whatevermortal.dreamwidth.org/) and i _always_ want new fandom buddies on both yo


End file.
